Ronald and Malcolm
by Jo2
Summary: Mr. X's life during the events of The Erlenmeyer Flask


RONALD AND MALCOLM  
by JoLayne  
EnyaJo@aol.com  
  
CHARACTERS: Mr. X, Deep Throat, Cigarette Smoking Man, Fox Mulder,  
Dana Scully  
CLASSIFICATION: X File  
EPISODES: The Erlenmeyer Flask and The Host  
SUMMARY: What was going on with X during that time.  
  
NOTE: I took a lot of liberties with the characters and situations, but just  
for fun. The characters used and the situations I'm dealing with belong  
to Chris Carter, Fox TV, and probably a whole bunch of others I can't  
even imagine. No harm done, this is just for fun. Or rather, it's to clear my  
head from thinking too much about Mr. X lately. No profit is expected.  
  
=====  
1993  
=====  
  
Rice paddies. Bamboo trees. Humidity. Gun smoke dissipating. Insects.  
Stench of burning wood, burning flesh. Screaming.   
  
Malcolm jerked up in bed on another morning after reliving another  
event from his time in Nam. As he cleared his head, put his feet solidly  
on the flooring of the cheap motel he'd checked into, he wondered if 20  
years ago would ever truly fade away. The things he did in the name of  
government, in the name of ridding the world of Communism... well, at  
least he had a reason. Malcolm was still working for that very same  
government. Only what they were trying to do was not what he or his  
superior thought was feasible. They wanted to welcome the newest,  
ultimate, outside force... not rid us of it.   
  
Aliens.  
  
There truly were aliens. Malcolm still couldn't believe it, even though he  
had laid eyes on them. Had killed a few. He rubbed his hands across his  
short hair on his head and started to giggle with the absurdity of it all.  
When he was a kid, laying in bed with the covers over him and a flash  
light focused on Superman comic books so his mother wouldn't find out  
he was up past his bedtime... he never dreamed aliens were actually real.  
They weren't from Krypton. They weren't here to save the Earth. They  
weren't going to be the guardian of truth, justice, and the American  
Way, whatever that was.   
  
Malcolm had been working with a great man who was a visionary for  
almost all the 20 years he'd been back from Nam. Ronald Carpenter. A  
great man. One of the few who had contact with beings from another  
world. Along with other visionary men, they formed an alliance to help  
the visitors protect us, to bring the world further in areas of research,  
technology and survival. Ronald's visions also showed him how wrong  
they were. How the beings couldn't be trusted. How the research they'd  
let us tinker with was nothing to them, they were far more superior than  
we ever could be. And they would destroy us.  
  
Ronald tried to tell the consortium that it was a lost cause. That they  
should work to find a weakness in their colony, a trump card to use if it  
became imperative. No one listened. That's when Ronald started to do  
many things. First, he made Malcolm his number one protector. Then he  
chose an identity to be covert, Deep Throat. Ronald loved "All the  
President's Men" and enjoyed using the moniker. He then bestowed a  
title on Malcolm. Mr. X. He made sure X's number one job was to make  
sure nothing would happen to either of them, but to stay in the  
background. Malcolm was to continue doing his job for the consortium,  
be a good family man, but keep his eyes open, his mouth shut and his  
gun cocked and ready.  
  
Family.  
  
When he was hired by Ronald right out of the military, Malcolm was  
encouraged to get married and have kids. The consortium told all their  
grunts to have a nice little wife and 2.5 kids like the rest of the world  
who didn't know of the danger about to explode that went by the name  
of Colonization. So, he did. He married his high school sweetheart,  
Colleen. They had two children, twins, one boy, one girl. Malcolm, Jr. and  
Cathy. A nice little family. He should have seen it coming, that they  
would be used as pawns in a game... but he didn't.  
  
The last year or so, Ronald had begun to use his moniker of Deep Throat  
to make contact with a man who he truly believed could stop them. The  
Prodigal Son. Fox Mulder could easily have taken his place in the  
consortium, if Bill Mulder wished it. That coward. Malcolm hated that  
man. He was part of the very beginning of it all, he saw it all, he made  
things happen. When it came time for even him to see the writing on  
the wall and what the aliens were up to, he didn't stand up like Ronald.  
He cowered into retirement and swore he would never tell a soul what  
was up. He didn't side with the consortium and bring his son into it. He  
didn't side with Ronald and bring Fox to their side. He drank himself into  
oblivion up in the Vineyard and did nothing.  
  
It was Ronald who made Fox aware of the consortium, that there was  
something going on that no one 'had the right' to know. When Ronald  
starting giving Mulder pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, Malcolm was both  
leery, and excited. Finally, after years of biding his time, Ronald found  
someone who could possibly take over the quest.  
  
Malcolm vividly remembered the covert meeting they had when Ronald  
told him of his plan to bring in Mulder, the younger. He told his superior,  
"You shouldn't stick your neck out that far. He's Bill's son for Christ's  
sake!"  
  
"I need to," Ronald quietly admitted. "I can no longer live with the guilt.  
If not for me, Bill and Charlie, we would have been working on the cure,  
not the hybrid all these years. Someone has to know. Fox wants the  
truth and he's looking blindly. Matheson is on his side. He can do it. He  
can uncover all the dirt that's been hiding us all for so many years. You  
didn't have the connections, and that's also my fault. You could have  
really shown yourself and been a true part of them. But, I wanted you for  
myself."  
  
"You're signing your death warrant talking to Fox Mulder," Malcolm told  
his superior.  
  
"By you?"  
  
"Never by me, sir," Malcolm told him in no uncertain terms.  
  
Ronald patted him on the shoulder and handed him something, then  
walked away.  
  
=====  
1994  
=====  
  
Malcolm got the call too late. Ronald was even silly enough to leave a  
message on his home answering machine that Colleen had heard first.  
"It's tonight" was all he said, but Malcolm's heart fell into his stomach. It  
was too risky! He had gathered too much information pointing at the  
"Crew Cut Man" to know that it was a trap. They were going to execute  
Ronald that evening. Maybe Fox Mulder's partner, Dana Scully too.  
Maybe Fox himself. They were maybe going to wipe out all traces of  
what was a thorn in their side. The only thing Malcolm couldn't uncover  
was who leaked it all to the consortium.  
  
If he ever found out who it was, they would die, whether Ronald bit it  
that night or not. They would die and slow, lingering, painful death. Of  
that, Malcolm was positive.  
  
Colleen wanted answers after that cryptic phone message. Malcolm only  
erased the machine, then pulled out the plug and crushed it in case  
anyone had the thought to look at it. The twins cried with their father's  
sudden destruction, with no explanation. He just kissed his wife and  
children and left, not really knowing if he would be able to return.  
  
Malcolm drove like a maniac to the bridge, which would be the drop off  
point for "Purity Control" to Special Agent Dana Scully to get her partner  
back from the ones who would execute his superior and best friend. He  
just knew they would. As he drove along the highway, he saw a white  
paneled van speeding from the bridge. Malcolm had to pull over and  
collect himself. The Crew Cut Man was driving the van. He went back  
and forth about following the van and going to see who all was dead.   
  
Ronald's words floated into his head, "Remember what's important.  
Don't lose your head. Focus."  
  
Malcolm got out of his sedan and started walking to the bridge. From a  
distance, he saw a bent over woman, holding up the head of a prone  
man, who Malcolm knew was Ronald. Those bastards actually did it!  
There was another prone figure on the quiet road, that Malcolm could  
only guess was Fox Mulder. Malcolm assumed he was also dead. At least  
they didn't kill the woman. But it looked like she was talking to Ronald!  
Maybe he was still alive!   
  
Malcolm started running to the bridge. When he reached the end of it,  
Scully got up and focused her attention on her partner. Together, they  
got up and walked away, after Fox gave his respects to Ronald. After  
they Scully drove Mulder to safety, Malcolm finally walked on that  
bridge. Ronald was dead. He wished he knew what his last words were.  
But then, pulled a gift Ronald gave him after telling him he was bringing  
in Fox Mulder... a silver lighter that read TRUST NO ONE.  
  
Suddenly, the nerves on the back of Malcolm's neck radiated. Fear  
gripped his heart, and every fiber of his being. Malcolm shot up off the  
bridge and ran back to his car and drove like a maniac home. "They  
wouldn't do it... they wouldn't dare do it..." he kept telling himself all the  
way home.  
  
The house was dark and unearthly quiet when he pulled into the  
driveway. The lights should have been on in the bedroom as Colleen  
read at least two chapters of a novel before going to sleep. And she  
always fell asleep with the lights on. Malcolm busted through the ajar  
front door. It was too dark. They always left the hall light on for the twins  
if they needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.   
  
Malcolm sunk to the floor and dreaded what he might see. Why did he  
have a family!? It was too quiet. Only the sounds of Malcolm's sobs could  
be heard. He slowly picked himself up and walked along the wall for  
support as he made his way to the twins' rooms on the first floor. They  
were empty. Their beds hadn't even been slept in.   
  
He went up the stairs three at a time and arrived at the door of his and  
Colleen's bedroom in seconds. He couldn't see anything from the hall.  
He flipped on the lights. The bed hadn't been slept in, but the  
bedspread was pulled on the other side. "Colleen?" Nothing else was out  
of place. He walked to the other side of the bed and fell to his knees in  
horror. His wife was lying on her side, hand gripping the bedspread,  
shot once in the back of the head. That's all it took.   
  
Malcolm fell forward to his hands and petted her foot in front of him. He  
pulled her into his lap and howled in grief, mostly at himself. He should  
have known. He should have gotten them out of there. She'd be alive if  
he had just taken a second to figure it all out. Malcolm gently kissed her  
forehead and told her, "I'm so sorry." A note was on the floor, dropped  
there by whoever killed her. Probably the Crew Cut Man.   
  
Malcolm picked it up and knew the hand writing. All it said was, "You can  
only trust me now. Charlie."   
  
Two men walked into his bedroom and Malcolm knew the drill. He  
hugged Colleen for the last time, and they actually let him. "Where are  
my kids?"  
  
One gruff man answered, "They're on their way to Colleen's parents."  
  
"Their bodies or them?"  
  
The man only smiled, then pulled Malcolm's arm, hauling him into a  
standing position while the other called the police to find her body. The  
men brought Malcolm to the rendezvous spot. As soon as he left the  
back seat of their car, they sped off. A black continental was parked on  
the other side of the parking lot. Malcolm found it funny. They couldn't  
have even dropped him off closer to the car. He would have to walk  
across the parking lot to Charles George Benton Spender, and probably  
get executed. Malcolm started walking, waiting for the bull's-eye on his  
chest to be utilized.   
  
Surprisingly, he reached the passenger side of the car. He waited, and  
nothing happened. The dark windows on the sedan didn't clue him into  
who was inside, but he opened the door anyway. After a quick  
surveillance, there was only Charlie sitting in the driver's seat.   
  
"I know you're armed," Spender said, after taking a long drag on his  
cigarette.   
  
"Yes," Malcolm said. "I wondered why they didn't relieve me of it. So I  
could kill you?"  
  
"No one's stopping you," Spender replied, with a shrug of his shoulders.  
  
The impulse was strong to do just that, but it would definitely be his  
downfall. "Focus," Ronald's words spoke to him. He needed to focus on  
keeping himself alive.   
  
"My kids..."   
  
"They will grow up to be moral, upstanding people thanks to your in  
laws. Whether you see them again is up to you."  
  
"Why Colleen?"  
  
"We all have to sacrifice for the project. Your children are safe. You are  
even safe. As long as you don't screw with me or the project. We heard  
your conversations with Ronald. He was misguided. We still believe  
you'll be loyal to us. And we know where your children are."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"No hard feelings?"  
  
"No, sir," Malcolm said, although it took ever ounce of strength he could  
muster not to shove that cigarette down his throat, break his neck and  
speed off to his kids. But they'd be dead before he even left the car. He  
knew that. He would have to be the perfect little soldier for the  
consortium. If only to make them believe it.   
  
MONTHS LATER  
  
Since FBI phones aren't using catalogued from one office to another,  
Malcolm figured it was safe. He had been being a good little soldier,  
watching Mulder and Scully from the distance, checking up on their  
progress. Sadly, since Ronald's death, they hadn't been making any. It  
was time to steer them in the right direction before Mulder started to  
like audio surveillance detail.   
  
He dialed the number to Fox Mulder's new office and sat back in his dark  
office. "Scully, this is a bad time for me to talk," Mulder said as soon as he  
answered.  
  
"Mr. Mulder," Malcolm replied, "I think you should know... you have a  
friend at the FBI."  
  
Before he could be tempted to answer Mulder's questions, he hung up.  
That should give him enough incentive to get the X Files reopened. If  
not, he'd just have to make himself known a little at a time again until it's  
done. Mulder was the only way he could get his kids back. Bringing  
Colonization to the forefront was the only way his kids could stand a  
chance to live without the threat of execution on a whim, even though  
they didn't know it.  
  
Malcolm knew that the road they were traveling was going to be a long  
one. But, he can't change lanes anymore. Not when Malcolm saw the  
end in sight.  
  
THE END 


End file.
